In the British Indian Army, soldiers of different faiths, races, and nationalities fought alongside one another during the First World War. In collaboration with the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO), Priya Atwal’s project sought to uncover these soldiers’ experiences, and explore the relationship between the local, global, and imperial in the history of the War.
The Fellowship resulted in two cultural activity days aimed at British Asian audiences, held at Wycombe Museum and SOFO, and a ‘South Asian History Festival’ at Oxford Spires Academy. These were designed to accompany a touring exhibition, ‘The Indian Army and the First World War’, which came out of Priya’s previous AHRC-funded project.
The Wycombe Museum event got positive feedback from visitors, and the project was featured in local press and radio as well as on BBC Asian Network. TORCH’s funding also allowed Priya to create educational resources for primary schools based on the project’s themes. She and SOFO’s Education Officer, Vicki Wood, created a storytelling exercise based on the personal stories in the Museum’s archive.
Priya writes that she hopes this educational outreach work will ‘inspire a younger generation with an interest in and appreciation of this important period of our shared history.’
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